Dog owners speak out after video abuse claims at Mucky Pups, Rishton

Dog owners speak out after video abuse claims at Mucky Pups, Rishton

DOG owners who took their pets to a day care centre where videos emerged appearing to show a man hitting the animals have spoken out about the business.

The videos, taken by former apprentice of Mucky Pups Doggy Day Care Centre in Rishton, Chelsea Devine, were shared on social media, prompting the RSPCA to say it would ‘look into’ the footage.

Several videos appeared to show the man ‘beating’ and ‘slapping’ different dogs under his supervision at the centre in Harwood Road.

Bosses at Mucky Pups issued a statement, which has since been deleted, claiming the footage did not provide full context as the man in the video had been bitten.

Several dog owners have spoken to the Lancashire Telegraph since it came to light.

Vikki Martin and her daughter Bethany Banks, from Clitheroe, took their pugs, Dexter and Otis, there in September. Ms Martin said she removed them after only a few weeks.

Ms Martin said: “We sent them to Mucky Pups around September for about seven or eight days, over a period of about four or five weeks.

“Dexter and Otis are only pups and we had to put a stop to them going because their behaviour changed massively and they became two very different pugs.

“I don’t know if they were ever on the receiving end of any abuse, as I haven’t seen any videos that show this, but since we pulled them out of the centre our lives have been a living hell because of their behaviour.

“Before we sent them, they were so well-behaved and mild-mannered but, after a couple of weeks, we noticed they’d become very, very jumpy, cowering and startled all the time, more so around men and at sudden movements, such as turning the volume on the TV up, or the phone ringing.

“And they bark at the slightest thing now, whereas before they didn’t.”

In one video taken by Miss Devine, a man can be seen in a room full of dogs, with what looks to be a broom or a mop in his hand. The footage appears to show the man hitting an English Bulldog puppy with the broom.

A woman, from Accrington, who did not wish to be named, contacted the Telegraph to say she believes the dog in that video was her dog.

She said: “Myrtle attended Mucky Pups a few days a week from September and, in fairness, she seemed to enjoy it and would get excited at first. She’s only five and a half months old. About three weeks ago, she started cowering every time we were telling her off for something, and would back away into a corner.

“My partner and I went to my dad’s with Myrtle and, at one point, he was stood behind her, normally, and she started to cower and then ran away from him.

“In one of the videos that I saw on Facebook, I saw the man hit Myrtle with a broom. It was definitely her. It made me feel sick.”

Michael MacRae, who lives in Langho, said he took his three-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd, Charlie, to Mucky Pups between September and October.

Mr MacRae said: “Where we live, Charlie doesn’t get much interaction with other dogs so we put him in Mucky Pups for one day a week in September, to see how he would get on, then for two days a week as he seemed to be enjoying it.

“But after a few times, he didn’t seem to be happy about going and one Tuesday when I picked him up he was a mess.

“I had to lift him into the car and when I was showering him, he could hardly stand up.

“I phoned Lauren, the owner of Mucky Pups, the day after and she said maybe he had been playing a bit too roughly with other dogs.

“I didn’t think much of it but he came back another time and started grunting out of his nose and making strange noises, which he’d never done before.”

He took Charlie to the vets, who did tests and a scan which revealed the animal’s insides were inflamed and swollen.

He added: “Charlie is still undergoing treatment at the vets, and so far it’s cost over £2,000.”

The Lancashire Telegraph attempted to contact Lauren Walker, managing director of Mucky Pups but received no response.

A spokesman for the RSPCA said: “The RSPCA only promotes positive, reward-based training methods and does not condone this sort of behaviour in order to train dogs or to tell them off."

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